May 26, 2008

Since it was a long holiday weekend (and the weather was gorgeous!) I worked on a project in my yard. I've always wanted an herb garden. Todd tilled a patch for me a few weeks ago and he got edging blocks a few days ago, so this weekend was it.

Here it is, under construction....

I have the beds edged with the stone blocks and next will be the brick pathways. The obelisk will be in the center bed with a flowering vine growing up it and spearmint under it. That way Mr. Spearmint will have his own area since he's very invasive. I have quite an assortment of herbs sitting on my side porch just waiting to be planted. Soon, my little herby friends, soon.

edited ~adding this layout as well (they are both for the product showcase at the store... this layout also has a metal clip from the New Noteworthy line). The accent paper above the photos (where it says 'independent') and the journaling block are from the back of the packaging of the metal tabs...

May 14, 2008

First, we got a few items from Scenic Route that had been on backorder and didn't come in with the big shipment last month....

these rub-ons...

and tabbed albums, buttons for the Lynden and Grafton lines and Providence Girlfriends chipboard elements...

Next, a layout I did using the Basic Grey Cupcake line....

The patterned paper with the cupcakes and other treats on it is so adorable ~ I cut out the tiny shapes and added them as accents to Bazzill chipboard shapes that I painted with a Ranger Pearl Paint Dabber...

All of the product I mentioned in my layout is available at the store. :-)

I went along with Sarah yesterday on a field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo. We lucked out and had perfect zoo-visiting weather.... sunny and seventy degrees. Plus all the azaleas were blooming - so beautiful!

Some pictures from the day......

Sarah and her yeah, mom, okay, there are elephants behind me pose....

As we walked around I took a picture of just about every animal/bird/reptile that we saw so that I could show them to Ben when we got home. I especially looked for the animals that Diego talks about and we overheard another mom and a little boy at the spectacled bear area talking about Diego and we had to giggle to ourselves.

I just want to share this set of animal pictures... The female gorilla was sitting right against the glass wall and she was literally inches away (you can click on image to see it larger).....

Sarah went panning for gem stones (she collects rocks and I think this was one of the highlights of the day for her)...

The other highlight was finding this squeaky penguin. Apparently one of the girls in her class has one of these from the Philly Zoo and that's all Sarah talked about. We had to go to the zoo shop and look for one of these guys....

We spent close to six hours walking around and saw all kinds of neat things. We found this secluded spot under a huge tree and there were park benches to rest on around it. That became our hangout. The magnificent oak tree...

And a picture of us, taken with the timer, in our hangout...

As we waited to leave near the main entrance Sarah threw a few pennies in the fountain and had to splash in the puddle....

We saw beautiful murals like this as we drove around the area around the zoo....

Okay. I gotta head out for work now. I was going to post these last night but I was literally falling asleep at my computer. Have a nice day! :-)

May 11, 2008

May 08, 2008

For those of you that have been following my 'oven escapades'.... Todd ordered a new part and it arrived today. He pulled the oven out to remove the old part and put in the new one. Egads. So that's what nine and a half years of stuff down the sides between the stove and the cabinets looks like. Bleh.

I silently vowed not to wait nine and a half years until the next time I clean back there. (And then I silently answered myself: Yeah, right, Patty. You can't even keep up with the normal, everyday cleaning. I'm sure you'll be right on the task of pulling out the heavy kitchen appliances to clean behind them.) LOL!!!

All that remains is to clean the inside of the oven. Then I'm back in the cake baking business. :-)